


Real love comes my way I'll try it (I'll Surrender)

by Graceybrook



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M, proposal au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2020-01-15 04:12:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18491089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Graceybrook/pseuds/Graceybrook
Summary: Zari Tomaz is on the verge of being deported and in a last ditch attempt to stay, says that she is engaged. To Nate Heywood.





	Real love comes my way I'll try it (I'll Surrender)

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how this will go down but I just had to write it after watching 4x09 and the fake dating trope

Nate Heywood was running late. Which was bad, very very bad. 8:48. He had 12 minutes to get dressed, race to Starbucks and then onto work. It was usually a 20 minute job. And that's only if there was no line at Starbucks, but this is New York and of course there was a long line when he finally crashed through the door at 8:54. Bad things come in threes (his alarm not going off being number one), but thank god for mobile apps he had put a rush on his order as he ran down the stairs of his building and Amy the barista motioned him to the front of the line and handed him two cups full of piping hot coffee.

Nate quickly thanked her (just because he was having a bad day did not mean that he had to be rude to anyone) and darted back out the door, maybe today would be okay after all. Weaving through the people on the streets Nate checked his watch again, four minutes. He might actually make it. It was 8:59 when he got off the elevator on his floor. He breathed a sigh of relief, the lights were off in his boss’s office. He was safe. But as he rounded the corner towards his desk someone crashed into him spilling coffee all down his front leaving a giant beige stain on his previously crisp white t-shirt. Tally two on bad things that have happened that morning. The culprit apologised and Nate waved his hand dismissively before continuing to his desk.

“Oh my god Nate what happened to you?” Ray asked as Nate placed the full coffee cup on his desk and the empty one in the bin before shrugging off his bomber jacket and rummaging in his desk drawer.

“Overeager intern rounding the corner too fast.” Nate's brow furrowed as he continued to root around his drawer for something that clearly wasn't there. “Dammit I didn't bring my emergency shirt back after the last time.” After many a late night in the office Nate had learned to keep spare clothes in his drawers, but after last week's all nighter to meet a deadline he must have forgotten to replenish his supply. 

Nate was running through the logistics in his mind of having to go back to his apartment to get a spare shirt and had started to pick up his bag before Ray dropped a sweatshirt on his desk. Nate hastily pulled off his stained shirt and stuffed it into his bag before pulling on the clean one, promising to return it to Ray the next day.

~~~

Zari Tomaz had never been on time for anything in her life, it had become a running joke in the office. It wasn’t as though she couldn’t be bothered, she was just too easily distracted. You had to schedule meetings 15 minutes earlier than you needed them if you wanted her to be on time. So when she got a text from Sara about a meeting at 9:15 she was confused. This was the first she’d heard of it. Brows furrowed she dialled Sara’s number.

“What’s this meeting about?” Zari asked when Sara finally picked up the phone.

“What no Hello? I don’t know Z, your assistant was going through your calendar and this was added like 10 minutes ago. I think it’s with Bennett.” Sara replied and Zari could just see her shrugging her shoulders as she sipped her black coffee, so predictable.

Zari rolled her eyes “Nate is not my assistant, at least not officially. Wait why are you telling me this and not him?”

“He just wanted to check if I knew what the meeting was about and why it appeared so suddenly. ”

Zari heard another call coming through, “I’ve got another call coming through, it’s probably Nate, I’ll talk to you later Sara.”

“Nate is this about the meeting that suddenly appeared out of nowhere?” Zari was briefly entertained by the stunned silence on the other end of the phone. “Don’t worry about it, just do me a favour and pull me out of it after about 10 minutes, I’ve got a feeling it’s not something good and I don’t need that at the start of my day.”

~~~

Zari stood slightly perplexed in the middle of Bennett's office. Deported. She was going to be deported. Her mind was racing through ideas in her head, anything she could think of to delay this, to stop it. It felt like an eternity had passed but it couldn't have been more than a minute before Nate opened the door to save her from this meeting.

“Sorry to interrupt, but we've got that meeting with Mary from the art department.” Zari blinked unresponsively and Nate tried rephrasing his rescue attempt, “that meeting? I told them you were otherwise engaged but they insist it's been on the calendar for months.”

If this was a cartoon, a light bulb would've lit up above her head. “I can't be deported, because we are getting married, we're engaged.” Zari said turning back to face Bennett, trying to blindly grab Nate's hand.

“Who's engaged?” Nate asked, confused and blissfully unaware of what was happening.

“You and I” Zari turned to face him, flashing him a look that said later.

“You two are engaged?” Bennett asked, disbelief etched all over his face “I didn't even know you two were seeing each other.”

Zari bit her lip, willing this conversation to be over so that she could try and explain to Nate, “Well you know office romances, we were trying to keep it quiet.”

“So very quiet” Nate whispered, his face expressionless as he stood stoic. 

Bennett look at the couple and shrugged “Well just get down to the immigration office and make this all legal and then we can all move on.”

Zari thanked him and pulled the still stunned Nate out of the office. She dropped his hand once the door closed and opted to pull him instead by his elbow back towards her office. She shoved him inside and closed the door behind them, blocking out the confused faces of their co-workers.

Nate gently lowered himself onto the couch. Zari could see the wheels turning in his mind, trying to process what had just happened. Zari just sat on the edge of her desk opposite him and waited. Finally he looked up and spoke, “What- What was-” he closed and reopened his mouth so much he looked like a cod fish and in any other situation Zari would've laughed and mocked him, but this wasn't the time. Nate blinked and tried again “You're being deported?”

Zari nodded and took a deep breath, “When I went to that gaming convention in Canada, my visa application was in limbo and hadn’t been approved and I wasn't allowed to leave the country. I ignored them and went anyway, thinking it was just a backlog on the paperwork slowing down my visa. So essentially my application was null and void and I'm going to be deported, and I'm so sorry I dragged you into it but I panicked and it was the first thing I could think of. My whole life is here. After an appropriate amount of time we can get a divorce and no one will ever know.” Zari stopped speaking and was wringing her hands together waiting for Nate to respond.

“Okay.”

“Okay? What?” 

Nate stood up and walked towards Zari, pulling her wringing hands apart, “I'll do it. You're my friend Z I'm not going to let you get deported.”

Zari felt the weight lift off her chest and she almost hugged Nate. Almost. She had to control her emotions. “Okay, then we need to go to the immigration office then.” Zari pulled her hands away and immediately missed the contact, she turned and picked up her coat looking expectantly at Nate.

It was obvious that the rest of the staff on the floor had been dying to know what was happening in Zari’s office as there was a suddenly flurry of typing and chatting once the door opened. Zari rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the flush of colour in her cheeks. It was going to be a long day.

~~~

The Immigration office was busy. Zari should've predicted this really, but she hadn't been in this office in years, not since... Zari shuddered. Now was not the time to get emotional, she had to focus on getting her visa application approved so she could go back to her life, well not immediately. After a few years of marriage to Nate she could get back to it. How did it come to this? 

“Miss Tomaz, Mr Heywood?” the pair looked up at a bored secretary who gestured for them to follow her to an empty office, “Mr Hunter will be with you shortly.”

They sat down on the chairs in front of the desk and waited in silence, neither one of them sure what to say.

It was a few minutes before Mr Hunter entered the room. A tall slender man, he looked a little too scruffy to work for the government, the only sign he belonged here was his suit. He was carrying a file (presumably Zari’s visa history) which made an impressive thud when he dropped it on his desk.

“Sorry about the wait, you must be Miss Tomaz and Mr Heywood.” He shook their hands before sitting down behind his desk and perusing the file. “Now my first question is: Are you both committing fraud to avoid her deportation? Because we have no record of a fiance visa being filed under your name.”

Zari had a fleeting moment of panic but schooled her face and quickly responded, “The paperwork must have gotten lost, we filed it last week.”

Hunter narrowed his eyes and looked between the two of them looking for any sign of weakness. “Then we’ll do this the hard way. We’ll schedule an interview where you’ll be asked all the questions real couples would know about each other, and then we’re going to look at your phone records and talk to your neighbors and colleagues to see what’s really going on. And if there is anything and i do mean anything that points to this all being a lie then you, Miss Tomaz will be deported and Mr Heywood here will go to federal prison.”

There was a moment of silence as his words sank in and Zari wondered if Nate was going to come clean.

“Look Mr Hunter is this going to take long? We have to pack, we’re going to see my parents this weekend. There’s the annual benefit my father is putting together and we’re going to tell them that we’re engaged.” Nate said reaching out to pat Zari’s hand.

“You’re going away this weekend?” Hunter asked Zari.

“Yes to DC, its Nate’s mother’s birthday as well and we thought we’d surprise her.” Zari smiled, Nate tried to look as though this wasn’t the first time he was hearing this, that he wasn’t surprised that she knew where the benefit was, let alone that it was his mother’s birthday.

“Then we’ll schedule the interview for Monday when you two get back.” Mr Hunter scribbled a time on a post it note and handed it to Nate as the two of them stood up. “I’ll be checking up on you two, I hope for your sake, your story checks out.”

~~~

After a very awkward day at work, Nate and Zari parted ways, agreeing to meet at the airport in the morning. Zari was currently stood in front of her wardrobe trying to pick what to wear to this fundraiser. She never would've pegged Nate for the type of person who attended fundraisers but she supposed there was quite a bit she didn't know about Nate, but that had to change. Zari’s phone was propped up on her nightstand, Sara’s face looking at her as she sipped from the glass of (probably) scotch in her hand.

“You’re telling me that you and Nate have been dating for months and you never told me. You’re best friend of literally years.” Sara raised an eyebrow up at Zari and smirked slightly. “What’s he like in bed?”

Zari rolled her eyes and blushed “Sara! Can we please not talk about that? I called you for help finding an outfit.”

“Fine, ruin my fun, but I will get an answer one day. Show me what you got Z.”

Zari pulled every item of clothing off it's hanger, held it up to her phone and examined it closely before throwing it to the discard pile that was growing rapidly. With the dress code at work being pretty relaxed she didn't have much use for fancy suits or dresses, mostly wearing smart jeans and a top at the office. By the time Zari had emptied the contents of her wardrobe she and Sara had narrowed it down to three options which Sara demanded she try on to get the full effect.

A sapphire blue dress that, once on, would definitely be too short; A deep emerald green jumpsuit with a deep V that was possibly a bit too low cut to wear; which left Zari with a more conservative jet black dress she'd not worn in years, she wasn't even sure why she still had it. The dress she'd worn to the funeral. Sara could see Zari’s expression change as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. “It’s up to you Zari, I love the jumpsuit and I know what that black dress means to you. I’ve got to go, I’ve got an early conference call in the morning. Text me once you get to the in-laws. I want to know everything.” Sara blew Zari a kiss before hanging up, leaving Zari alone with her thoughts.

She sat on the edge of her bed, did she want to be constantly reminded of the funeral or did she want to risk being ogled and objectified. She packed the jumpsuit, thinking that Nate seemed like the kind of guy who would stand up for his fiance if they were being objectified. Fiance. It was going to be a strange weekend.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are always welcome


End file.
